Voltage converters are used in electronic circuits where circuits parts are to be controlled or provided with a voltage which is larger or smaller than the supply voltage of the entire circuitry. Such voltages are required, for example, in driver circuits for illumination elements, in particular for light-emitting diodes (LEDs), in voltage supply circuits or to realize an efficient 3.3 V supply from a lithium-ion battery. These applications require the provision of differing output voltages for driving an electric load. In order to achieve an efficiency which is as good as possible, it is therefore necessary to provide several output voltages each being larger or smaller than the supply voltage so that one of these output voltages is as close as possible to the desired target value.
A voltage converter can be operated in a capacitive or inductive way. A known capacitive voltage converter comprises three capacitive elements which are operated in two phases. In the first phase the capacitive elements are connected in series. In the second phase the capacitive elements are connected in parallel. In this way, a supply voltage applied to the respective interconnection is provided in the second phase which is 1.33 times the amount of the supply voltage.